The embodiments described herein relate generally to a hand-held trace vapor and particle sampling system and, more particularly, to a hand-held trace particle sampling system for enhancing detection of materials of interest.
At least some known hand-held trace particle sampling systems are used to detect trace portions of materials of interest, e.g., residues. As used herein, the term “material of interest” refers to threat compounds and other contraband substances such as explosives, especially home-made explosives (HME), and narcotics that may compose a threat in an inspected region. In addition, such “materials of interest” may include compounds associated with chemical and biological weapons. Such hand-held trace particle sampling systems are portable devices used to detect residue from materials of interest on skin, clothing, parcels, bags, cargo, vehicles, and other surfaces. Therefore, such hand-held trace particle sampling systems are used either as a stand-alone method of detection or are used in conjunction with other systems, e.g., x-ray scanners, metal detectors, and canine patrols, that may use a variety of detection technologies, e.g., mass spectrometry, ion mobility spectrometry, and optical spectroscopy.
Many known hand-held trace particle sampling systems include sample collection, sample concentration, sample delivery, and sample analysis features. However, at least some of such hand-held trace particle sampling systems are not configured to collect and concentrate trace samples sufficiently and may, therefore, experience a non-detect event due to a failure of sufficient sample delivery for analysis.